Guest Speaker

VASHTI FARRER MA Eng Lit, Syd Uni, has worked as an advertising copywriter, research librarian, encyclopaedia researcher, lecturer creative writing, short story judge, book reviewer, film extra and freelance writer. She has had over 60 adult short stories published and won five major short story awards. Her twenty-six books published for children include fantasy, humour, as well as history based fiction and non-fiction, and cover a wide range of topics. Among them are British military executions in WWI (Australian Financial Review, 2005); child convicts in Tasmania; the Eureka Stockade; Captain Cook’s voyage up the east coast of Australia; the lead up to Federation; the first Melbourne Cup; the Sydney Harbour Bridge; the home front in Kings Cross during WWII; Waler horses sent to the Boer War; and WWI and carrier pigeons in WW II. An article entitled The Only Woman based won the inaugural New England Thunderbolt Award for Crime Writing (2013). This was based on her non-fiction adult book Ellen Thomson – Beyond A Reasonable Doubt? Published by Halstead Press, 2014.